Okay, I guess this is an odd juxtaposition, that previous post on HK politics and now this one on a pioneer of progressive rock music.  But that’s me.

Robert Fripp has announced his retirement from music in an interview in the Financial Times.  Fripp is of course most famous as the leader of King Crimson, the group that debuted in 1969.  He’s also worked with Brian Eno, David Bowie and Peter Gabriel among many others.

“My life as a professional musician,” he tells me, “is a joyless exercise in futility.”

“I couldn’t concentrate on music,” he says, sitting in the kitchen, where his business and musical partner David Singleton has joined us. “So I made the choice to give up my career as a musician in the frontline to deal with the business.”

(If you’re a fan, the entire article is worth reading.)

Coming out very soon, a very super deluxe box set reissue of the 1972 King Crimson album Larks’ Tongues in Aspic.  This was the edition of what was in my opinion the best version of Crimson, with Fripp joined by John Wetton, Bill Bruford, David Cross (not the comedian) and Jamie Muir.  The web site says, “This boxed set contains every known live performance and studio recording by that band.”  The box contains 13 CDs plus 1 DVD and will sell for US$120.  There will also be a 2 CD edition and a 1 CD/1 DVD edition.

This remains an amazing album, a huge favorite of mine for 40 years.